SCRUM follows the journey of one of the first Black college rugby coaches in the US as he builds a championship-winning team in only two years at a predominantly white Southern institution.
He is the only actor in the history of cinema to have won three Oscars. Known for the dramatic intensity of his roles – which are as striking as they are diverse (aristocrat, petty thug, outcast or criminal) – for directors such as Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg.
What is real and what isn’t in a replicated city? Ella Raidel made this penetrating ghost-town film in contemporary China, interweaving actors and ordinary people, sets and footage of the city. Aren’t the real estate agents, construction workers and investors simply playing a game? What remains of reality in a world dominated by the vagaries of capitalism? A Pile of Ghosts is a mysterious puzzle where the dividing line between fact and fiction becomes increasingly blurred. In this strange world, subjected to speculation, it actually doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
Mina, determined to realize her dreams, not only refuses to succumb to her husband and mother-in-law’s fierce opposition, but also paves her own path and pushes forward along it. Gradually, it looks as if the people and world around her are starting to change . . . .
A cathartic journey that Qais, a Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker embarks on as he traces the life of H.P. Lovecraft, from woodland cemeteries in Rhode Island, to the docks of New York and on to the cobbled stoned streets of Quebec City. A documentary that proves that the truth is weirder than fiction.
Largely composed of immigrants and first-generation Canadians from Vancouver’s suburbs, The Notic underground basketball collective overcame all odds to achieve global fame 20 years ago. In defiance of their high school coaches’ casual racism and desire for oppressive conformity, this gregarious group discovered self-expression through streetball’s loose structure and aversion to rules. Bursting onto the scene at the NBA-sponsored Hoop It Up tournament near Science World, the group unleashed a devastating arsenal of bravura tricks and moves. DIY VHS highlights of their showstopping exploits would soon be collected on their first "mixtape". With copies finding their way to every corner of the globe, it was anointed "the bible of streetball".
What makes you travel 500 km with a surfboard to wait for the perfect wave on the cold, dismal Baltic? A captivating story about chasing dreams, friendship, waiting, determination and overcoming barriers.
"Hell or High Seas" follows U.S. Navy veteran Taylor Grieger and writer Stephen O’Shea on the adventure of a lifetime. As the two sail around Cape Horn – the world’s most treacherous ocean waters – to raise awareness about veteran suicide, Taylor finds healing from his own painful journey with PTSD.
Cut off from his loved ones due to the strict COVID-19 lockdown at the long-term care facility where he lives, a quadriplegic rabbi is filmed by his daughter while reflecting on love, mortality and longing.
FROM DEVIL’S BREATH tells the unlikely story of two remarkable narratives that come crashing together; the extraordinary, inspiring community of survivors of the deadly 2017 wildfires in Portugal, fighting to ensure what they’ve lived through can never happen again; and a revolutionary, world-changing scientific discovery which could help protect us all from the climate emergency.
The gym locker room is an unavoidable chapter in the life of teenagers and the epitome of awkward moments. Happy the person who has a relaxed relationship with their body. Teresia Fant’s documentary gives the floor to those who are forced to enter this place every week and ask themselves: Shower today, or can I do without?
The computer game chain GameStop created so much chaos in the stock market that it forced large hedge funds to their knees. How could it happen? Here we follow different people who were brought together during 2020 because of their interest in GameStop's future. Some had invested in the chain's stock, others wondered about it. While the chain's employees trusted that the company would pay their salaries at a time when millions of people went bankrupt and became unemployed.
Nadia Nadim, whose dad was killed by the Taliban in 2000, has embarked on this quest. The young Afghan woman, her 4 sisters, and their mother fled Kabul in the wake of the violence. Today, the Taliban have returned to rule. Football passion is what saved Nadia. She became a striker on the national team of her adoptive land, Denmark, then for the Paris-Saint-Germain women's team. Nadia, having achieved football stardom, wants to return to Afghanistan, to find out more about her father's fate. But the country is torn by terrorism as the Taliban and ISIS sow chaos daily. Giving up the trip, Nadia must grieve for another loss. However, she is unsinkable, and has plans for the future: graduate as a reconstructive surgeon and heal her people.
In her debut feature, Alexandra Pianelli captures the unique world in and around her family’s Paris newsstand, presenting a film diary that lovingly documents her time working there. Sequestered behind the cramped counter, Pianelli films the world as it passes before her with a boundless sense of curiosity and compassion. iPhone or GoPro strategically set up before her, she records idiosyncratic interactions with charming regulars who drop by for their newspapers and a chat, or the lost passers-by simply looking for directions. Le Kiosque is a tender study of humanity, as well as a bittersweet sketch of physical media’s dying days as the newsstand’s future becomes increasingly unclear.
"The Art of Dissent" celebrates the resilience and power of artistic engagement in Czechoslovakia before and after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion. The documentary's main protagonists - Václav Havel, banned singer Marta Kubisová, and the underground rock group the Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) - became the most recognizable dissidents during the 1970-80s. Havel bridged the disparate clusters of individuals and fused the literary, musical, political, and philosophical nonviolent elements into a hybrid network that eventually toppled the totalitarian regime in 1989.
DARK SHADOWS & BEYOND – THE JONATHAN FRID STORY reveals the real man beneath the vampire’s cloak, exploring Frid’s personal and professional struggles, artistic triumphs and rise to fame. Among the family, friends and co-workers who offer fresh insights are actresses Marion Ross (Arsenic & Old Lace) and Christina Pickles (Seizure), American Shakespeare Festival associate Anthony Zerbe and Dark Shadows colleagues David Selby, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker, Nancy Barrett, Marie Wallace and James Storm. The documentary also includes rare performance footage and previously unseen interviews and archival materials from Frid’s private collection.
Something From Nothing takes you on a stand-up comedy tour during the pandemic from a comedians perspective, filmed in the parking lot of a diner in Queens, NY. The film shares the story of Jay Nog and his family during the pandemic as well as the comedians and employees who performed and worked at the diner.
Danny Abel’s documentary tells the incredible, all-American story of Jeremiah Heaton and his geographical conquest. It all starts in 2014, when Heaton lays claim to 500,000 acres of desert land between Egypt and Sudan; his initial aim is to establish a kingdom so that his daughter can be made a princess. What follows is media attention, a movie deal with Disney, and a shift in motivation: Heaton decides to create a bonafide nation, with industry, a military, and more.